Aphrodite is Overrated
by long-live-HP-PJ-HG
Summary: Uh oh. It's THAT time of the year. The whole thing with roses, chocolates, and secret admirers. Wait. Did I say secret? Oh no. This year, Aphrodite is taking a different approach... NOTE: Slight T rating for mild language. Cover art by burdge ON TEMPORARY HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey, this is my first fanfic EVER, and I'm really excited about joining the community, so ummm...hi!**

Of Disparaging Looks and Old Traditions

No, no. There must have been a mistake. We are not SERIOUSLY bringing around _that_ old tradition again. I thought we had finally eradicated it once and for all.

Percy fell into step next to me as I marched up the grassy slope to breakfast.

"What's got everyone so riled up?" he asked, a confused look on his face. I would never say it out loud, but he looked kind of cute when he was confused, like a clueless little lost puppy... NO! Annabeth, FOCUS!

I threw him a disparaging glance. "You idiot, Seaweed Brain, did you _not_ notice the flyers everywhere?"

"Ummm...no. I'm _dyslexic, _remember?" he said, trying to throw me a disparaging look of his own. And failing miserably.

I tried not to laugh out loud at the look on his face, and replied,"So is everyone _else_, Seaweed Brain. Why do you think the flyers are in _Greek_?"

I expected a snappy reply, but instead he flushed a little and said,"Right. Well, what are the special _flyers_ for, then?"

Suddenly, a red-and-pink sheet smacked into his face. "See for yourself," I said, smirking, and handed the sheet to him. He took it and read it aloud.

"'Valentines' Day activity: Magic and love meet as the Aphrodite and Hecate cabins team up to help all those pathetic little lonelies find their One True Love!'" He looked up at me. "'Pathetic little lonelies'?"

I grimaced. "Yeah, Drew _might_ have been on the design-and-layout team."

"But what do they mean by-"

Suddenly, an announcement rang out over the grounds. "All campers, report to the breakfast pavilion NOW, or I will turn you all into shrunken heads floating inside bottles of Merlot!" Three guesses who that was. Mr. D., Mr. D., or _the wine dude_.

I groaned. "Come on, Percy. As the mortals say, _it's showtime_."

**A/N I know, not much to go on, but I **_**promise **_**to update soon. (Reviews would be a great incentive...like Nutella *drool*)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thanks to all my lovely reviewers! (And by all, I mean 3) Here's the next chapter, up for all to see!**

**Disclaimer: WHY MUST YOU TORTURE ME WITH MY LACK OF RIGHTS TO PERCY JACKSON?! *sob***

**RR: Haha! I win.**

Of Evil Fates and Cursing Aphrodite

Percy and I walked up to the breakfast pavilion in silence. I was thinking furiously, more like just being furious. _Why? Why did they have to bring this back NOW? Why, O Evil Fates?_

"Annabeth?" Percy said, breaking into my thoughts. "I think you've rubbed your camp beads to wood shavings."

I flushed. It was an old habit of mine to rub my camp beads on my necklace whenever I was distracted, or to help me concentrate. I didn't realize that I had been fidgeting with them. I was actually more surprised that Percy had noticed. He's kind of known for being unobservant.

"Hurry up," I replied, trying to cover up my blush. WHY did Percy always seem to have that effect on me? _Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers, _I reflected ruefully.

As we reached the pavilion, slowing, I saw the Aphrodite cabin standing up on a stage, all giggling and fluttering their eyelashes at any boy who walked by. Well, the girls at least. The boys were flirting with any _girl_ that walked by. Drew, the head counselor, in particular, didn't even need to flirt- the boys just came to her. I sighed.

Also standing on the stage was the Hecate cabin. They were more serious, but still laughing and talking. The head counselor, Akira, caught my eye and grinned knowingly at me. I rolled my eyes in response, but still gave her a half smile. Akira's cool and all, but I sometimes get the feeling that she knows too much.

"All right, everyone! Settle down!" Chiron called. Everyone got quiet.

"Now, as you all may have noticed, we will be doing a little _activity_ for Valentines' Day. At the behest of our Lady Aphrodite, goddess of love, the two cabins of Aphrodite and Hecate shall be teaming up for a little, shall we call it, game. That's all I will be saying for now, over to the people in charge of all this."

Drew walked slowly and deliberately up to the microphone, hips swaying. I could tell, without looking, that several male eyes were trailing after her. She was really shallow and doesn't know anything past the next issue of _Vogue_, but I can't say I didn't know why she was such a boy magnet. Tall, Asian, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewelry, and perfect makeup, somehow managing to make jeans and an orange T-shirt look glamorous- she was the dream of many a hormone-crazed male. She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Akira bouncing up to the mic. Some people chuckled at the stark contrast.

It's true though. Akira is a whole different story. She's tall, yes, but she's slim and muscular from fighting. She's actually obsessed with weapons and magic, that's what makes her so dangerous. As for looks, well, she has her mother's black eyes and raven hair, but she's Indian, so she could have gotten both of those from that side. Tanned-brown skinned and long-lashed as well, she's actually really pretty, but her intimidating persona made up for that.

"HI!" she yelled into the mic, more than a little enthusiastically. Did i mention Akira's _kind of _hyper?

"How are you all doing? Good? Cool, I don't really care. So anyways, this is actually a tradition that's _supposed _to be annual, but a few years ago some people campaigned against it-" she cut her eyes to me, then went back to addressing the audience. "And it was discontinued. But due to the efforts of our _wonderful _campers, we got this little activity back on track."

"Yeah, so, like, we were totally thinking that,like-" Drew began, but was cut off _again_ by Akira.

"As Drew was so eloquently announcing-" the campers laughed,"We will be doing a Valentines' Day tradition that has the Aphrodite cabin and the Hecate cabin collaborating to help singles find their one true love!

"The way that this works is: each one of you gets one cuff of a handcuff. You will have 24 hours to find the other half of your handcuff- the handcuff that your One True Love will be wearing. Once you find each other, your handcuffs will automatically/magically link together. You two, as a pair, will have to stay handcuffed to each other for 36 hours. And here's where the true demigod survival spirit kicks in- you will then have 12 hours exactly to figure out how to get these off. Oh, and by the way, once linked, these cannot be manually separated, such as cutting, burning, biting, et cetera."

Someone called out, "What happens if you can't find your 'One True Love' in 24 hours, or if you can't figure out how to get the handcuffs off in time?"

Akira replied,"For the first question, I'm sure there will be at least one pair that hasn't found each other, so you'll see. As for the second question, well, what do you think?" She smiled coyly.

"And yes, two last things: Let the games begin, and may the odds be _ever _in your favor!"

_Kaígontai ston ádi̱ , Aphrodite!_

**A/N I know, I totally stole the final two lines from the Hunger Games. **

**Didya catch the quote? If so, review and tell me who said it! I'll answer that in the next chapter.**

**Plus, I lifted a quote from **_**The Lost Hero**_**\- when I described Drew. I doctored it a little to make it fit in context, but it's still mostly the same.**

**By the way, the last line means "Burn in Hades, Aphrodite!" I'm sorry if it's wrong, I got it off of Google Translate.**

**Also, I have a guilty admission: I wrote **_**myself**_** as a character into this chapter. I've always wanted to be a part of the Percy Jackson universe, and this is the only way to fulfill my fantasy. And yes, I went a little crazy describing "myself." **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N SORRYSORRYSORRYSORRYSORRY Hey did you notice if you say a word enough times, it loses all meaning? Yeah, I know, EVERYONE knows that.**

**OK, OK, I know that I'm detracting from the topic at hand: my complete abandonment of this story for, like, 3 months. I apologize once more, and to make up for that, I'll TRY to make this chapter longer to make up for it. I just kinda fell out of it for a while...OK, I know that if I take too long on the A/N, I'll never get to the story, so...here goes!**

**ONE LAST THING: In case you hadn't noticed, I took down APOLOGIA.**

**Disclaimer: Typically I would take time to make this funny and witty, but I really want to get to the story, so...no.**

Of Wishing Death Upon A Certain Friend and Not-At-All-Happy Campers

There was immediate murmuring among the campers, especially the Ares kids, who looked particularly belligerent.

Akira's eyes, noticing the response to her words, flashed dangerously behind her glasses.

"DON'T even think about it," she said as an Ares kid unsheathed his sword. "You do realize, we know you all well enough to anticipate your reactions. If you try to attack _any _of us-" she indicated the Hecate cabin standing behind her, "you _will _suffer consequences."

"Such as?" Malcolm called out.

"Well-" Akira grinned, "We of the Hecate cabin have all worked together on a very _special_ enchantment, that will temporarily disable any attacker."

"Exactly what do you mean by that?"

"Fine, it will render the attacker the sensation of...intense, disarming torture. I refuse to go further into detail as there are children here."

Someone else said loudly, "Yeah, what _about_ the children?" Cue several snickers running throught the audience. "Isn't this too, um, grown up for them?"

Akira replied simply, "Anyone below the age of 13 will not be participating, as this is _teenager stuff_."

Most of the below-thirteen-year-olds looked profoundly relieved. Lucky them! I, however, glared at Akira, along with many other campers. But the threat of 'torture' was enough to hold us back.

Akira clapped her hands. "So! Now that we have that settled, let us move on to the actual games. Everyone get into two lines, boys and girls!"

No one moved.

Akira sighed. "I really, really regret having to do this." She turned to Drew. "You know what to do."

A smug look on her face, Drew stepped up to the mic. "Now, honeys," she said in a sickly sweet voice. "Let's all be dears and get into two lines: boys and girls."

As if hypnotized, most of the audience started to form into two lines. Including me. I felt kind of fuzzy myself, like I had drank too much of the Stolls' "punch."(spiked, obviously)

Damn that charmspeak to Tartarus.

**A/N I'm sorry this is so short, I said I would TRY to make this longer, not that I would succeed. Please review, even if it's to tell me what an Octavian(worst insult in my opinion) I am for abandoning this story...**


End file.
